1968-07-23
Glenville Shootout: in Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.

1968-07-01
The Nuclear non-proliferation treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries.

1968-08-15
40,000 people protest in Mexico City against the repression in the country.

1968-09-24
Swaziland joins the United Nations.

1968-10-14
Jim Hines of the United States of America becomes the first man ever to break the so-called "ten-second barrier" in the 100 meter sprint in the Summer Olympic Games held in Mexico City with a time of 9.95 seconds. Hines remained the only athlete to sprint 100 meters in under 10.0 seconds until the year 1977.

1968-03-16
Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.

1968-01-13
Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom Prison

1968-12-24
Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

1968-10-08
Vietnam War: Operation Sealords – United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.

1968-11-11
A second republic is declared in the Maldives.

1968-10-31
Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.

1968-12-23
The United States wins the release of 82 sailors by issuing a written apology to North Korea for spying on the Communist country. The apology was immediately retracted after their release.

1968-11-17
Alexandros Panagoulis is condemned to death for attempting to assassinate Greek dictator George Papadopoulos.

1968-01-20
The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 to win the Game of the Century.

1968-05-27
The meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (National Union of the Students of France) takes place. 30,000 to 50,000 people gather in the Stade Sebastien Charlety.

1968-06-06
Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws his record 58th consecutive scoreless inning, a major league record until 1988.

1968-11-05
United States presidential election, 1968: Republican Richard Nixon wins the American presidency, in what turned out to be a decades-long realignment election.

1968-12-11
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

1968-12-13
Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.

1968-10-12
Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain

1968-07-01
Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL-CIO.

1968-06-23
74 are killed and 150 injured in a football stampede towards a closed exit in a Buenos Aires stadium.

1968-07-17
A revolution occurs in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.

1968-12-21
Apollo program: Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At 2h:50m:37s Mission elapsed time (MES), the crew performs the first ever manned Trans Lunar Injection and become the first humans to leave Earth's gravity.

1968-03-21
Battle of Karameh in Jordan between Israeli Defense Forces and Fatah.

1968-09-27
The stage musical Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof's collapsing in July 1973.

1968-12-27
Apollo Program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.

1968-04-04
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

1968-06-30
Pope Paul VI issues the Credo of the People of God.

1968-10-18
The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.

1968-10-16
Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.

1968-04-23
Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.

1968-06-08
James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1968-07-20
Special Olympics founded.

1968-02-05
Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh begins.

1968-01-22
Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

1968-05-22
The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.

1968-07-23
The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy, to Lod, Israel.

1968-11-01
The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X.

1968-03-28
Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death is one of the first major events against the military dictatorship.

1968-01-21
Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.

1968-10-14
The first live telecast from any manned spacecraft, the Apollo 7, launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the U.S.A.

1968-10-14
Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps will send about 24,000 soldiers and Marines back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours of duty in the combat zone there.

1968-07-08
The Municipality of General Santos was converted into a City status, named General Santos City.

1968-06-05
U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy dies the next day.

1968-11-26
Vietnam War: United States Air Force helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire and is later awarded the Medal of Honor.

1968-03-18
Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.

1968-10-14
Vietnam War: 27 soldiers are arrested at the Presidio of San Francisco in Califronia for their peaceful protest of stockade conditions and the Vietnam War.

1968-11-17
British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.

1968-08-22
Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.

1968-05-24
FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.

1968-11-11
Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated. The goal is to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam.

1968-04-03
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech.

1968-10-02
A peaceful student demonstration in Mexico City ends in the Tlatelolco massacre.

1968-04-29
The controversial musical Hair opens on Broadway.

1968-10-16
United States athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked off the USA's team for participating in the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.

1968-04-09
Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1968-01-30
Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins when Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks in South Vietnam.

1968-05-11
The Toronto Transit Commission opens the largest expansion of its Bloor-Danforth Line, going to Scarborough in the East, and Etobicoke in the West.

1968-01-21
A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

1968-07-26
Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.

1968-01-31
Nauru gains independence from Australia.

1968-12-25
42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.

1968-04-04
AEK Athens BC becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.

1968-05-30
Charles De Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 in France.

1968-07-18
The Intel Corporation is founded in Santa Clara, California

1968-02-08
American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre, an attack that left three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina on black students from South Carolina State University who were protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley.

1968-08-20
200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization.

1968-12-25
Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneouver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

1968-04-08
BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.